There is a certain misconception associated with BDSM that practitioners are somehow perverted and guilty of abhorrent fetishes. Sydney based photographer Simon Bernhardt’s exhibition ‘BDSM’ (bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and sadomasochism) – attempts to remove this stigma and challenge stereotypes associated with those in the BDSM community.

Bernhardt showcases a number of engaging and intimate portraits of very different BDSM practitioners, representing them as ordinary people at ease in their skin or behind their masks. Accompanying the exhibition, is a book allowing the Australian public to learn more about how they came to be involved, influenced and excited by things outside “mainstream” sexual expression. First person accounts of their experiences and journeys, accompanied by portraits that avoid objectification, allows a fresh insight into a community that most people have little to do with.

BDSM seeks to celebrate and document these subjects and their unique sexual identities, breaking taboos and misunderstandings about what we think goes on behind closed doors.